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Zack Wheat
Zachariah Davis "Zack" Wheat (May 23, 1888 – March 11, 1972), nicknamed "Buck" , was an American Major League Baseball left fielder. A consistent hitter throughout his 19 year career, he still holds many Dodger franchise records. His brother McKinley "Mack" Wheat also played in the Major Leagues; the two were teammates in Brooklyn for 5 seasons. Career Born in Hamilton, Missouri, Zack began his professional baseball career in for Enterprise in the Kansas League, followed by Wichita in , Shreveport Pirates of the Texas League in , and finally, to round out his minor league career, he played for the Mobile Seas Gulls of the Southern Association in . It was during that 1909 season that the Brooklyn Superbas of the National League purchased Wheat for $1200, and he made his Major League debut in September. He batted with a corkscrew type of swing, and held his hands down near the end of the bat, unlike most hitter during his time, a time noted at the "Dead Ball Era". Even with his consistent high levels of hitting, he was also noted for his graceful and stylish defense. Zack played his first full season in . He played every game for the Superbas that season as the regular left fielder, leading the league in games played. He batted .284 that season, the second lowest average of his career, which led the team, and was among the league leaders in hits, doubles, and triples. It was in that his reputation as a slugger began to take hold. Along with hitting .287, he finished eighth in the league with 13 triples, he also slugged five home runs. In an era when players rarely hit double digit home runs for a season, five is notable enough for people to take notice. Zack continued his steady and consistent climb up the batting charts in , hitting .305, and finished the season among the league leaders in home runs and slugging percentage. Over the next four seasons, he will continue to be in the leaders of many offensive categories; such as home runs, batting average, slugging, hits, doubles, triples, and RBIs. It was during the 1912 season, that Wheat married Daisy Kerr Forsman, and she became his default agent, encouraging him to hold out for a better contract each season. Players in his day signed one-year contracts before every season. Each time he held out, he received more money, the club not wanting to lose one of its best players and the team's most popular player. This tactic of threatening to hold out served him well during throughout his career, including during the World War 1 era, when he raised and sold mules to the United States Army as pack animals. He claimed that he did so well, that he didn't need to play during the summer. The team, fearing that they migh lose a great player during the prime of his career, would succumb to his demands every year. In , he topped off the string of seasons with a finish in the top ten in all the above categories, topping the league in total bases and slugging. He also had a career high hitting streak, which reached 29 games. The Brooklyn Robins finished first that season, facing the Boston Red Sox, where they faced the formitable pitching rotation of Ernie Shore, Dutch Leonard, Carl Mays, and Babe Ruth. The Red Sox won the series 4 games to one, shutting down the Robins hitting; Holding the Robins to a .200 batting average, and Wheat to a paltry .211. During the and seasons, Zack hit well, but missed many games due to injuries. He had tiny feet, size 5, and this is believed to be the cause of the many nagging ankle injuries that caused to miss many games in his career. He did, however, lead the league in batting average for the first and only time in his career with a .335 batting average, his highest average up to that point. Interesting note to that season, for a player known as a slugger, and consistently in the top ten in most offensive categories including home runs, he hit zero that season, and just one the prior. Starting in , Zack returned to the league leading crowd once again, as the baseball began to become livelier, proved by the offensive output by the likes of Ruth, and Rogers Hornsby. The Robins made their second World Series appearance in , this time facing off against the Cleveland Indians. The Robins lost this series as well, 5 games to 2, although Wheat's hitting greatly improved this time around, batting .333. Wheat statistics climbed during this new live era of baseball, topping the double digit home run totals for the first time with 14 in , and again three more additional times in the next four years. Wheat hit .320 or higher every season from 1920 through , topping out with .375 in consecutive seasons. He failed to lead the league in hitting those two seasons, not getting enough at bats in to qualify, and Hornsby topped the league with .384 , and in , his .375 finished a distant second to Hornsby's .424. A subtle, but longstanding friction existed between Wheat and his manager, future Hall of Famer Wilbert Robinson. The friction reportedly stemmed from Robinson's belief that Wheat seemed to pursue the manager's job behind his back. When owner Charles Ebbets died in , new team president Ed McKeever re-assigned Robinson into the front office and named Wheat as player-manager. Newspapers confirm that he managed the Dodgers for two weeks. McKeever caught pneumonia at Ebbets' funeral, and died soon afterward, and Robinson quickly returned to the managers position. As it turned out, Wheat never again managed in the majors, much to his disappointment. To add insult to injury, Wheat's 1925 managerial stint never made it into the official records. In , Steve McKeever, Ed's brother, hired Wheat as a coach, leading to widespread speculation that Zack was being groomed for the manager's spot, threatening Robinson's job for a second time in seven years, and he treated his former star as coldly as ever. Wheat was signed by the Philadelphia Athletics after his release from Brooklyn in . After the season, he was released again, this time he signed and played for the minor league Minneapolis Millers of the American Association. He played very little that season due to an inury to his heel, and retired from playing for good following the season. He still holds the Dodger franchise records for hits, doubles, triples and total bases. Post-career When Zack retired from playing, he moved back to his farm in Polo, Missouri, until the Great Depression sunk his farm, which he was forced to sell in 1932. He moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where he operated a bowling alley and later became a police officer. It was during his duties as an officer in 1936, that he was chasing a fleeing felon in his vehicle, when he crashed and nearly died. Zack was in the hospital for five months, and when he was discharged, he moved his family to Sunrise Beach, Missouri to recuperate. Sunrise Beach was a resort town on the Lake of the Ozarks. It was here that he opened a 46 acre hunting and fishing resort. Wheat was first voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in , but could not be inducted in due to the fact that he hadn't been officially retired the required 30 years. To make up for their mistake in 1957, the committee voted him in again in , this time unnanimously. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. In 2006, the stretch of Route 13 that runs through Caldwell County, Missouri was named the Zach Wheat Memorial Highway. See also * Top 500 home run hitters of all time * List of major league players with 2,000 hits * List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles * List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples * List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs * List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI * List of Major League Baseball batting champions References External links * * * * Zack Wheat's Obituary * Category:1888 births Category:1972 deaths Category:American police officers Category:Brooklyn Dodgers players Category:Brooklyn Robins players Category:Brooklyn Superbas players Category:Major League Baseball left fielders Category:Major League Baseball players from Missouri Category:Hall of Fame Category:National League batting champions Category:Philadelphia Athletics players Category:Players